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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28929153">Together Wherever We Go</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattie24601/pseuds/mattie24601'>mattie24601</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Happiest Season (2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, F/F, Greyromantic Riley Bennett, Kid Fic, Snapshots, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, and so this sort of got out of hand, aro author puts arospec characters everywhere, but i've been wanting to write a kid fic for a while, family au, fic request, kind of, marriage AU, sorry - Freeform, the author hates pregnancy and will never write it, this was supposed to be a marriage au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:42:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,751</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28929153</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattie24601/pseuds/mattie24601</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of Riley and Abby's married life.</p><p> </p><p>Can be read as a sequel to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27767395">It Didn't Need to End Like This (But I'm Okay That it Did)</a> but is also a stand-alone piece.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Abby Holland/Riley Johnson, Riley Bennet/Abby Holland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Together Wherever We Go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenLuthor/gifts">RenLuthor</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for RenLuthor, fulfilling a fic request. Sorry this turned into more of a "Family AU" rather than a "Marriage AU" I hope you still like it.</p><p>I'm a huge theater nerd so the original title for this was "We Go Together" from Grease and then I impulsively changed it to "Together Wherever We Go" from Gypsy like two days ago.</p><p>I imagine Riley being a Family Practice doctor and Abby as an Arts History professor, it's not super relevant but I thought some people would like to know.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Their wedding is pretty small, neither of them really have many friends. Abby’s only real friend is John, she has a couple colleagues she’s friendly with that she invites, and Riley has a couple friends from Pittsburg, the ones who didn’t drop her the second she was outed, and a few from school. In total their guest list only has about 20 people on it.</p><p>John walks Abby down the aisle, he objects at first when she first asks because he doesn’t want to be a part of her patriarchal ceremony. But then Abby tells him that he doesn’t have to believe in her wedding he just has to be a good friend and walk with her. As much as John hates everything marriage stands for he loves his best friend more. Abby and Riley both wear suits, Abby wears the same jacket she wore to the Caldwells’ Christmas Party. She hasn’t worn it since, but she likes the idea of taking something from one of the worst nights of her life and wearing it on what she hopes will be one of the best.</p><p>Riley gets ready with her friends from high school, she’s still so grateful that they stuck by her side. It would have been so easy for them to follow the crowd and leave her completely alone, not that Riley was all that popular to begin with, most of her friends that she gained in high school were because she was close with Harper and they were always going to stick with Harper anyway. She doesn’t really get a chance to see her friends from school often anymore now that she’s moved to Baltimore, but they still video chat at least once a month. Riley’s never been one for tradition so she decides to wear a dark blue suit for her wedding, she loves the color and she knows Abby does too. </p><p>They have their ceremony in a library in Washington, DC. They both have a passion for learning so it just seems fitting, plus the whole reason they were able to reconnect was the fact that Abby was able to get a teaching job. When they’re up at the front at the altar looking out at everyone who gathered to be with them and Abby thinks that she might be starting to rebuild her family.</p>
<hr/><p>Abby never thought she would be a parent, especially after she lost her parents. She’s terrified that she’ll leave her kids in the same way she lost her parents. Plus kids in general just aren’t her thing, not really helped by meeting Matilda and Magnus at Harper’s. Some of her new friends from Baltimore have kids and she gets along with them pretty well.</p><p>One night Riley brings it up as they’re getting ready for bed. They’ve talked about it before, kids, either having them or not having them, wasn’t a deal breaker for either of them so Abby’s not really...surprised when the topic comes up but she wasn’t expecting it right then and there. But they’ve been married for almost a year and dated four years before that, so really, it’s not that odd, but Abby’s still not ready for it.</p><p>Riley brings up the idea of adoption, she sees a lot of foster kids as a family medicine doctor. With being a doctor though she unfortunately wouldn’t get much help in the way of time off if they decided to go that route. Abby is partial to that idea as well, helping kids who are like her, even though she was legally an adult when her parents died she didn’t really feel like an adult yet, she was still living with them and suddenly having to learn how to take care of herself was really hard.</p><p>That night was the first of many long, really hard, emotional conversations. It took them a lot of work but they finally were able to get on a waiting list.</p>
<hr/><p>Once they really started talking about adoption they started looking for a new place to live. Riley moved in with Abby about a year after they started dating because her lease was up and Abby offered to let Riley move in. The problem though was that Abby’s apartment in Boston wasn’t necessarily in the best neighborhood ever and it was only a one bedroom, and the fact that they were two women trying to adopt a child they’re trying to do whatever they can to prove that they’re capable parents. So they start apartment hunting. At first they limit their search to Baltimore but when they can't find anything they like they widen their search. They find a really nice apartment they like in Alexandria but the only thing holding them back from officially putting an offer in on it is the fact that they would both need to change jobs. So they start job hunting. They theoretically could keep their old jobs, but an hour commute isn’t really something either of them are looking forward to. They end up not able to get the first apartment they were looking at in Alexandria but with new jobs lined up they were lucky enough to find another apartment in the same building.</p><p>It was their first apartment. The first one they decorated together, and aside from making the decision to start the adoption process it’s the biggest thing they’ve done together since they got married.</p>
<hr/><p>Abby and Riley make the executive decision to spend their first year of holidays in their new place rather than try and juggle moving in with visiting family and friends. They move into their new place in October. They don’t really do anything for Thanksgiving when it rolls around, they make dinner, but it mostly just seems like any other night when it’s just the two of them.</p><p>What little appreciation Abby had gained for Christmas when deciding to go home with Harper that winter was pretty quickly lost. She’s gone home with Riley a few times, always politely declining the invitation to the Caldwell Christmas Party that she’s still invited to for some reason, preferring to go to the drag bar with Riley. Most of the older regulars still remember Riley from when she still lived there. So it’s a little weird to not be going back there this year, it’s become their tradition. They call John and Riley’s family on Christmas morning after they open their presents from said people. They spend most of Christmas afternoon cuddled on the couch watching non-Christmas movies.</p><p>They don’t really do anything on Valentine’s Day, Riley’s never really liked the idea of Valentine’s Day. Abby is really only the fourth person she’s dated and only the third that she could celebrate their relationship in any sort of capacity with. Her two ex-girlfriends always made Valentine’s a big deal and it always made her really uncomfortable. Riley loves Abby for all kinds of reasons but the fact that she fully accepts her for who she is is probably the biggest. Abby doesn’t try to make Valentine’s Day a big deal, she kind of enjoys the big gestures but if Riley doesn’t why would she do them? The year before they got engaged Riley told Abby why she doesn’t like Valentine’s Day, beyond just the overcomcialization and the fact that people should just show their partners they love them without a special holiday for it. Riley doesn’t fall in love easily, she never has and part of the reason she has such a disdain for Valentine’s Day is the fact that it places so much pressure on people to have a significant other and for most of her life Riley really didn’t think she would have one, she thought she would have her friends and her family and she would be happy. And she absolutely would have been happy with just them, but she’s also happy with Abby.</p>
<hr/><p>It’s over two and a half years before they hear that there’s a child, an eleven year old boy, Jamie, that they’re in line to adopt. It had been so long that they almost forgot they were on the list, well, that’s not quite true but they were starting to lose hope, even knowing how long it can take. They’ve joined a couple groups online for same-sex adoptive parents but without actually being parents they felt out of place. And honestly Abby’s not sure she’ll ever fit into that group, she’s never really felt like she fit in anywhere, except with Riley. And maybe with Harper at the beginning, maybe even up to their trip to Harper’s home, Abby felt like she fit with her. And she fits in pretty well with her colleagues in the Art History department, both when she was at Morgan and now in her new job at George Mason. That was one of the hardest things about moving, Abby already didn’t have many friends and leaving the ones she did have in Baltimore was really difficult.</p><p>They have to do one last home check with the social worker and then Jamie will live with them for a month before they make the decision together of whether or not he would like to go through with the adoption. It’s a long and difficult month, Jamie is very closed off but Riley and Abby make an effort. Despite deliberately picking fights Jamie is surprised to find that they still want him to live with them, they want to go through with it. They tell him though that he has to put in the effort too, he’s spent a lot of time in the foster system, most parents don’t want the baggage that comes with a trans kid. He thinks that’s why his social worker wanted to place him here.</p><p>Abby and Riley tell him that they can put “Jamie” on his adoption certificate and get him a new birth certificate as well if he wants. He frames a copy of both certificates and hangs them in his new room, it’s the first time he’s ever seen his name on any sort of official document, his social worker tried to change it in his files but she was never able to.</p><p>It takes him a while to fully trust them, and to stop intentionally arguing with them, but they finally get there.</p>
<hr/><p>They both manage to get a little bit of time off once the adoption is finalized. Abby leaves her TA in charge of finals, she can grade them at home and Riley planned out her appointments for the month assuming that the adoption would go through. Since it’s May when everything is finalized Jamie finishes his last month of the school year at his old school in Washington. He’s finishing up 6th grade and there’s a junior high in Alexandria that starts at 7th grade so they figure it’s a good time to be switching anyway. Jamie says he doesn’t really care one way or the other, but he also said he doesn’t really have friends at his current school.</p><p>Abby teaches an online class during the summer but she’s definitely home more with Jamie than Riley is. Because of that Jamie starts to trust her first, trust her more, not that it was any fault of Riley’s. It definitely caused some arguments to spring up between them, she tries when she’s home, but it’s hard when Jamie isn’t really putting in the effort. It hurts because Abby wasn’t even sure that she wanted children and now their kid is calling her Mama and she’s still just Riley.</p><p>Near the end of summer Riley takes some time off for a long weekend and they all take a vacation to the coast, they go on forest hikes and spend a day at the beach and Abby lets Riley take the lead and lets her make her own connection with their son. Riley tells him all about the plants and trees they see and Abby loves seeing both of them like this, seeing Riley talking about something she’s so passionate about, but doesn’t get to talk about that often. And Jamie looking up at her, so fascinated and she thinks that maybe seeing if he’d be interested in a botany class when they get home. It would be something that they could do together and they need that.</p><p>Once school starts back up again Riley takes Jamie to a botany class twice a month, it’s time for just them to spend together, they go to the class and then go get ice cream. It takes him about three more months but one day when they’re out at the ice cream shop he asks if he can call her Mom. When they get home Jamie goes to his room and Riley goes and tells Abby what happened.</p><p>Since their first year in their apartment they’ve kept the same tradition, not always on Christmas if they’re travelling, but they open their gifts to each other and watch movies, always non-Christmas themed. This year they don’t travel, but they introduce Jamie to “Must be Santa”, he’s already told them he doesn’t believe anymore, if he ever did, but it’s the song that helped bring them together. They got him a giant book about the plants local to Virginia and he hasn’t looked up from it since. They also got him a pothos vine but it’s currently out on their small patio and they haven’t wanted to take him away from his book to show it to him yet. They figure he can hang it from his window. They pull him away from his book long enough to watch a movie together, he’s curled between them until the movie ends. He starts to get his book again but they tell him to check their patio, his new vine plant may be pretty hardy but it probably won’t survive the night outside. He brings it inside and hugs them both before rattling off several facts about his new plant before asking Riley if he’s missed anything. Riley and Jamie spend the rest of the afternoon looking up how to best care for his new vine. Abby may not necessarily like Christmas but her favorite people certainly make it better.</p>
<hr/><p>Abby and Riley think they’re ready for Jamie to go off to college. He’s not even going that far, he’s going to New York. But they’re dropping him off at his dorm and it’s really hard to leave. They decide to take the long route home, opting to visit Riley’s family and John. It’s been a long time since it’s been just the two of them, they’ve had the odd weekend to themselves but this is the first time they’ll be on their own for any length of time.</p><p>When they get home from their road trip Abby sets up her laptop in the living room to work on her lesson plan and it’s so weird for her to not have Jamie sitting next to her telling her about whatever new plant he’s gotten or is thinking about getting. Riley puts three plates out at first when she’s setting the table that night, even though it’s been a few days this is the first time they’re back home. But she smiles later when she sees the detailed list of instructions he left them to take care of his plants that he couldn’t take with him. He still has his original pothos vine, Abby built a wall for his room that it could climb. </p><p>The night they do their work in silence, but together. It almost feels wrong that they’re so easily able to fall back into the pattern they had before they adopted Jamie. But they also feel like they’re very clearly missing something. Abby may have been the first parent he connected to but ever since that first trip they took as a family Jamie’s definitely had a stronger connection with Riley. Abby was always there during the summer and listened to him ramble on about his current plant obsession, but Riley would have conversations with him about them.</p><p>They find their rhythm again, just the two of them. When Jamie fully moves out, choosing to stay in New York, he still calls to talk to his Mom about the new plant he’s researching. They talk about adopting again but it never felt right, as much as they wish they could have given Jamie the childhood he deserved; they are so proud of the man he’s become.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I absolutely love kid fics but the idea of pregnancy freaks me out so adoption is always my go-to. It also feels like if Abby ever did have kids it would probably be through adoption. </p><p>I do so much research for fanfic, probably more than I do for actual classes so you know. I don't live on the East Coast, why do I know of like four different colleges there now?</p><p>Come talk to me on tumblr @mattie24601.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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